RICHLAND — The Olympic Crosscutters scored in six of the game’s seven innings to win their American Legion A State Baseball Tournament opener by the football score of 24-13 over University (Spokane) in 90-plus degree heat Saturday at Hanford High School.
“Just unbelievable,” Crosscutters head coach Anthony Koeninger said. “A wild west shootout is what it was.
“And we are playing in the heat down in Richland and the kids are just not used to anything like this. We really had to make sure our guys were hydrated, especially our pitchers and catchers.”
Team rallies
Three huge innings did much of the work for Olympic, as the Crosscutters posted five first-inning runs, six in the fourth to erase a 9-6 deficit and nine more in the sixth to pad a 14-11 advantage.
“We hit around in the first, they came back with two runs and they kind of throttled us for the next two innings,” Koeninger said.
“They jumped out ahead of us and at one point it was 9-6. I told the kids, ‘It’s the third inning and we are only down a few runs, there’s plenty of game left.’ “After that we scored six, two and nine [in the next three innings].”
Big hitters
Every Crosscutters player posted a base hit and the team totaled 24 hits in the contest.
Nathan Seelye had four hits, including a triple and a double, scored four runs and drove in four more for Olympic.
“Nathan was our hitting star for sure,” Koeninger said.
John Vaara had two doubles, scored three runs and brought in two more.
“Big John was swinging the bat, for sure,” Koeninger said.
Elijah Flodstrom had three hits and three RBIs
Zane Glassock had a two-run single and also drove in two more runs on a fielders’ choice and a groundout.
Elisha Dujue earned the win for the Crosscutters, allowing one run on three hits and a walk while striking out two in the final two frames.
Dujue also hit a two-run double.
Tough slate a boon
The Crosscutters primarily played AA opponents this summer due to a lack of A legion teams western Washington. Koeninger thinks those experiences will help at the eight-team state tournament.
“We were constantly challenged through the summer playing bigger kids, older kids and we gained experience,” he said. “Sometimes we took our lumps, but we played well throughout the season and now that we are playing at our level of compeitition, I think we will fare well.”
Next up
Olympic faced tournament host Hanford Flames late Sunday night and will play today at either 4 p.m. (if they lost) or 7 p.m. (if they won).
Olympic Crosscutters 24, University 13
Oly 5 0 1 6 2 9 1 — 24 24 5
Uni 2 2 5 3 0 1 0 — 13 14 3
WP: Dujue
Pitching
Crosscutters — Powers 2IP, 5H, 7R, 5ER, 4BB, 2K; Woodley IP, 2H, 2R, ER, BB, 2K; Acker 2IP, 4H, 3R, 2ER, BB, 2K; Dujue 2IP, 3H, R, BB, 2K.
Hitting
Crosscutters — Seelye 4-6, 2B, 3B, 4R, 4RBI; Vaara 4-5, 2 BB, 2 2B, 3R, 2RBI; Flodstrom 3-5, 2BB, R, 3RBI; Robinson 3-4, BB, 3R; Indelicato 3-6, 3R, RBI; Reed 1-3, 2R, 2RBI; Dujue 1-2, 2B, R, 2RBI; Kilmer 1-3, 2BB, 2B, 3R, RBI; Glassock 1-4, 4RBI
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Sports reporter/columnist Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
